The Federal Reserve surprised investors when the central bank’s minutes, released on Wednesday, opened the door to a rate increase in June, roiling financial markets.
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The Dow Jones industrial average fell 154 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,372 at 10:23 a.m. Eastern time.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) traded up 11 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,050, with financials leading seven sectors higher and utilities the greatest laggard.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 57.03 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,769.56. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index has surged up by 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.3 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1 percent.
Campbell Soup shares tumbled 6.2 percent to $59.99 after disappointing sales.
“If they raise rates in June we’re going to have real problems and this is going to be a disgusting summer”, said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at National Securities in NY, who believes the threat of inflation remains low.
New York Fed President William Dudley commented early 19 May that June will definitely be a live meeting. The world’s largest retailer had its biggest single-day jump in eight years. Today’s put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.04, with puts and calls trading at a almost equal pace. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.7 percent.
Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) was down by more than 6% after its first quarter comparable sales rose less than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.12% to $48.24 a barrel.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index .ixic was up 1.13 percent, also boosted by Microsoft and Apple.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 54 cents to $49.22 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Although oil prices slipped on Friday, they were still on track for weekly gains of 5% as supply disruptions from turmoil in Nigeria, the lowest output in the USA since September 2014, the continuing saga of wildfires in Canadian oil sands and the crisis in Venezuela led to hopes of a reduction in brimming inventories.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 110.10 yen from 109.94 yen and the euro rose to $1.1204 from $1.1203.
